Vinyl LP pressing. In the 1950s, when Astor Piazzolla went to Paris to study classical composition, the tango of his native Argentina was not considered fit for the concert stages of Europe; these were the sultry sounds of the street; the music of the demimonde. Luckily, the formidable composition teacher Nadia Boulanger encouraged her Argentinian pupil to draw precisely on those roots. Piazzolla at last found his true voice as a composer and bandoneon virtuoso. Today, he is considered the father of tango as we know it today, blending rhythmic vitality with orchestral textures. This LP compilation confirms that the founder of Tango Nuevo left as his legacy a unique style of music that sounds just as fresh and vibrant today.
This is a landmark recording dating from 1999 by Nikolaus Harnoncourt with one of the greatest orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Gramophone Magazine put this album on the top of the discography. "Harnoncourt has some distinguished Concertgebouw forebears, not least structure-conscious Sir Colin Davis and combustible Antal Dorati. This, though, beats them all. Auspicious happenings register within the first few pages: carefully drawn woodwind lines, basses that calm meticulously from fierce fortissimo to tense pianissimo, provocative bassoons and an effortless passage into the lovely flute melody. At the start of the development section, piano violins really are played leggiero (lightly), a significant detail that most rivals gloss over. [...] Harnoncourt's Largo is something of a minor miracle. Undulating clarinets register against shimmering string tremolandos and, beyond the beautifully judged approach to the Meno passage, you suddenly hear quiet second-violin pizzicato chords that you almost never notice in concert. The finale itself never sags, and for the home straight Harnoncourt treads a course somewhere between the printed Allegro con fuoco and the expressive broadening that Dvorak later sanctioned. Most admirable about Harnoncourt's Dvorak is it's close proximity to nature: barely a minute passes that isn't somewhere touched by verdure or sunshine."
One of the most famous recordings of Polish-British-Canadian violinist Ida Haendel, who passed away last year. After performing the Sibelius concerto in Helsinki in 1949, broadcasted on radio, Ida Haendel received a letter from the composer: "Please accept my most cordial thanks for your excellent performance of my Violin Concerto. You played it masterfully in every respect. I congratulate you upon the great success. But above all, I congratulate myself that my Concerto has found an interpreter of your standard." This 1975 recording was made under the baton of Sibelius specialist Paavo Berglund.
Don Giovanni's special amalgam of dark drama and sparkling comedy is captured with startling immediacy by Carlo Maria Giulini. The Viennese baritone Eberhard Wachter faces a particularly formidable pair of noble ladies: Donna Anna in the form of Joan Sutherland (in one of her rare recordings for a label other than Decca) and the Donna Elvira of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.
Vinyl LP pressing. Holst's Planets is a hi-fi test piece par excellence. The music explores every nuance and dynamic of which a modern symphony orchestra is capable. When reproduced at a realistic volume level with full frequency range, the music has a stunning emotional impact - at times savage - at other times beguiling. The piece has been recorded many times since it's 1918 debut under Sir Boult's baton but it's colours never glowed more brilliantly than in this performance.
Nigel Kennedy's recording was released on 25th September 1989 and went on to become one of the best-selling classical albums of all-time, selling over three million copies around the world. Originally recorded in November 1986 in the Church of St John-at-Hackney, London, it was a recording that would achieve unprecedented public and media attention and change the course of music history. Vivaldi's work, 12 movements in short three-minute bursts, was tailor-made for commercial radio. It was the first time that commercial pop marketing techniques had been used in the classical world and the first time that Nigel was unleashed on the media. It was a phenomenon waiting to happen. Nigel Kennedy's recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons sold over three million copies around the world. It topped the UK classical chart for over a year and entered the Guinness Book of Records as the bestselling classical recording ever. In 1989, the classical music industry came to terms with life after Herbert von Karajan. His death on 16 July marked the passing from the world of maestros to that of megastars. Pundits had predicted a classical music boom, courtesy of the new digital sound carrier, the compact disc, but no one could foresee a world in which Three Tenors, glamorous violinists and Welsh mezzo-sopranos would dominate the pop charts. And then there was Nigel Kennedy, a pupil of the Yehudi Menuhin School whose star was about to rise. He left the hothouse environment at Stoke d'Abernon with his individuality intact and came to the notice of Simon Foster, the A&R manager at EMI's budget classical label, Classics for Pleasure. It was Foster who championed Nigel's recording of Elgar's Violin Concerto, made at a fortnight's notice in 1984. Gramophone magazine gave it the 'Record of the Year' Award, and it received a gong from the early years of the Brit Awards for 'Best Classical Recording'. On 24 April 1986, Kennedy stepped up from the mid-price Eminence label to sign an exclusive contract with EMI Records UK, albeit in the face of some scepticism from the internal International Classical Division. It was suggested by one senior executive that no one called Nigel would ever make it. 'What? Like Adrian?' came the reply from another executive, and the objection was not raised again. The Wogan Show and other TV appearances introduced Nigel to a wider audience. Six months later, Nigel began recording this CD. Wider fame arrived with a concert in aid of The Prince's Trust in July 1989 attended by Prince Charles and Princess Diana. Nigel played the last movement of 'Summer' with the CBSO conducted by Sir George Martin, one-time producer to The Beatles. After the concert, the BBC Radio 1 presenter Annie Nightingale introduced Nigel to the attending Royals and asked if Nigel should teach the violin to William and Harry. Diana smiled. 'I wouldn't let you within a million miles of them.' Nigel, unperturbed, replied: 'Shocking, your Royal Monstrette.'
One of the few productions of "Porgy and Bess" to on video, this 1993 release is directed by the acclaimed stage director Trevor Nunn. With a stellar cast of performers including Willard White, Cynthia Haymon and Gregg Baker, Nunn injects new life into the classic Gershwin opera. The London Philharmonic and the Glyndebourne Chorus add wonderful accompaniment to this historic black musical. The romance and beauty of this tender story, it's dramatic development, and the sheer vitality of the characters come alive in this exciting visual production. (1993) Running time: 184 minutes.
There are few living pianists so well-known and with such legendary status as Evgeny Kissin. A former child prodigy, Kissin came to international attention in March 1984 when, at the age of twelve, he performed Chopin's Piano Concertos 1 & 2 with the Moscow State Philharmonic. Since then he has gone on to win countless prizes and plaudits. He now brings his considerable talents to Beethoven's five magnificent piano concertos, recording them for the first time as a complete cycle.
A transformative force in music, dance and the visual arts, the Ballets russes was founded in Paris in 1909 by the visionary impresario Serge Diaghilev. Innovative and flamboyant, he had a genius for bringing together the most brilliant composers, dancers, choreographers and designers, for nurturing creativity, and for galvanising audiences. Emblematic of the influence of the Ballets russes was the 1913 premiere of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps: it caused a notorious scandal, but it also changed musical history. This 22CD set traces the company's path through the 20 years of it's existence - a tumultuous, but artistically fertile period - and comprises the vast majority of Ballets russes scores that have been recorded. Encompassing epoch-making works and rarities awaiting rediscovery, it offers a number of CD premieres and landmark interpretations by major musicians of the 78, LP and digital eras.
Maria Callas : The Studio Recitals Box set, Import, Original recording remastered - This outstanding collection of studio recitals provides fascinating insights into Maria Calla's career and her unique artistry and musicalitiy. Encompassing the core operatic repertoire for which she was most revered, as well as roles that she never sang on stage, these recitals demonstrate Callas's exceptional versatility - from bel canto to verismo, dramatic mad scenes to impeccably sung coloratura - and form an integral part of her recorded legacy. The great value of these recitals is magnified by the new transfers made at Abbey Road studios in 2014, using 24-bit 96kHz remastering. 14 discs
The nine Beethoven Symphonies are considered to be one of the greatest musical testaments of all time and are a key staple in every conductor's repertoire. Simon Rattle performed the complete cycle with the Wiener Philharmoniker in live concerts, recorded for EMI between 29 April and 17 May 2002 at the historic Musikverein in Vienna. 'These are not interpretations set in stone, deeply as Rattle has obviously thought them through; and his encouragement of the brilliant VPO woodwind and horn soloists to challenge each other in imagination and individuality adds to the impression of joyful discovery.' - GRAMOPHONE
The Heart of the Cello (compilation - 30th Anniversary of death: October - Jacqueline du Pre - "She clearly was born to play the cello," wrote the New York Times of Jacqueline Du Pre in 1967. Just five years later her career was cut tragically short by illness. Du Pre's recordings provide a treasurable memento of the "perfect balance of youth and maturity" that her teacher, William Pleeth, found in her music-making: "She approached each new experience with spontaneous pleasure and enthusiasm." Offering a vivid experience of her life-enhancing art, this 2-CD set of concertos, sonatas and chamber works features recordings remastered in 24-BIT / 96kHz at London's famous Abbey Road Studios.
Elgar: Cello Concerto, Sea Pictures (Vinyl) - At the premiere of Elgar's Cello Concerto in 1919, John Barbirolli - himself a cellist - was playing in the London Symphony Orchestra. When he recorded the work in 1965 he chose Jacqueline du Pre as soloist and she remains inextricably linked with this elegiac, but passionate work. Barbirolli's special affection for Elgar's music is just as evident in the glorious account of Sea Pictures with Janet Baker and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Trumpet Star, Alison Balsom, Transforms the Traditional Italian Baroque Concerto in This New EMI Classics Release Following the popular and critical international success of her Haydn and Hummel concertos recording, Alison Balsom has recorded a program of Italian Baroque concertos. In this new recording, Balsom, plays various popular concertos originally composed for the violin or oboe by Vivaldi, Tartini, B. Marcello, Albinoni and Cimarosa, accompanied by the Scottish Ensemble. This collection provides an apt vehicle for the award-winning trumpeter's characteristic brilliance and grace. Alison Balsom, an exclusive EMI Classics recording artist, studied trumpet at the Guildhall School of Music, the Paris Conservatoire, and with Hakan Hardenberger. She was previously a member of the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Britain. She has appeared throughout Europe, the United States and Asia with leading orchestras, as a recitalist on both Baroque and modern trumpets and in chamber music with the Balsom Ensemble. According to the Times, Alison Balsom "makes the trumpet sing with an irresistible exuberance and eloquence. "
2014 Maria Callas remastered series reissue. With this Abbey Road 24-bit 96kHz remaster, engineers returned to the original master tapes, bringing new clarity & brilliance to her legendary studio recordings. Callas never sang the role of Mimi on stage, but this did not prevent her recorded interpretation from being, as described by Philip Hope-Wallace in Gramophone, 'brilliantly realized, This Mimi comes alive and later haunts you in the most extraordinary way, one of the most moving I have ever heard.' Giuseppe di Stefano is an ardent Rodolfo and the young Anna Moffo makes a delectable Musetta.
Jacqueline du Pre was recognized during her brief prime as one of the supreme cellists of the 20th century, with an intense commitment and a well-honed technical mastery to back up her heaven-sent talents. She seemed to inhabit every piece she played and the public responded joyfully to her interpretations of such concertos as the Elgar and the Schumann, as well as the sonatas of Beethoven, Brahms, Franck et al. She was also at the centre of an extraordinary group of young friends who set the classical musical agenda for the 1960s. The way her career was snatched away from her by a remorseless illness, leading to her early death, has inevitably cast a romantic glow over her life story. So it is salutary to visit or revisit this treasury of her recordings - almost all of them painstakingly remastered from the original tapes, and including previously unissued performances - and remind ourselves just how great she was.
Wilhelm Furtwangler is a musical titan, one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century. Some would say he is the greatest of all. A supreme, inimitable interpreter of the Austro-German symphonic repertoire, and of Wagner's music dramas, he remains a towering point of reference for performers and audiences. The unparalleled scope of this 55CD set makes it an essential for the music-lover. Not only is it the first collection to unite Furtwangler's entire catalogue of studio recordings, it also encompasses every live recording he made with a view to commercial release. Painstaking research has even unearthed a treasury of previously unpublished material, recorded in Vienna and Copenhagen. The highest artistic and technical standards have been applied in curating this set: each recording has been fully and scrupulously remastered in high definition, while the accompanying commentary and documentation, both authoritative and exhaustive, further illuminates Furtwangler's philosophy and his genius for bringing a score to life with apparent spontaneity.
